Quiz: Howstuffworks

Can You Ace This Car Engine Quiz in 6 Minutes?

Zoe Samuel

Image: John M Lund Photography Inc / DigitalVIsion / Getty Images

About This Quiz

Engines are an ancient invention. Records of engines of one type or another date back to antiquity. Engines freed much of mankind from manual labor beginning in the Industrial Revolution, and thus put an end to slavery in much of the world. Engines meant that people spent less time doing manual labor and more time thinking, learning and improving. Engines meant humans had the leisure time to work out microprocessors, film and other achievements that would otherwise have been set aside by the need to grow food to survive.

Engines are used in nearly every industry. There are engines that are integral to transportation and shipping. There are engines that mean chain saw artists can sculpt tree stumps, that rock climbers can reach the feet of the mountains they climb, that farmers don't need days to get from their homesteads to town in order to vote. Engines tied the world together. Because of engines, people can travel from Los Angeles to Berlin in hours, not months. Fuel and goods can be shipped around the world more cheaply than ever. Often, due to engines, transportation moves faster and becomes cheaper.

But engines aren't all the same. Different technologies emerged over the centuries, each with its own strengths. It is said that locomotives, especially the old, coal-fired ones, have moods. Do you know enough to test those moods? How much do you know about car engines? Take this quiz to find out.

What automaker declared an "end to the internal combustion engine"?

Volvo

GM

VW

Nissan

Swedish automaker Volvo's head said in 2017 that the internal combustion engine was dead and Volvo would begin to phase it out of its fleet starting in 2019.

When talking about a V6, what does the 6 refer to?

The number of liters

The number of cupholders

The number of cylinders

The number of wheels

There are many configurations of engine cylinders, but the number of cylinders is always an important part of the name. The 6 does indeed stand for 6 cylinders, just as an 8 would stand for 8 cylinders, 12 would for 12, and so on.

When talking about V8s, what does the V mean?

Very good

The performance division of Cadillac

Vacuum

The configuration of the cylinders

A V configuration is where the cylinders, arranged vertically, meet at their bottoms in a V shape, a design that means space savings. By saving space, V6s can be crammed into smaller engine bays, often leaving room for other additions to the engine, like forced induction systems.

What performance advantage do diesel engines usually have over gas engines?

They are smoother.

They get all their horsepower from 1 rpm.

They get all their torque from 1 rpm.

They regulate temperature automatically.

Diesel engines, short for "Diesel-Electric Engines" use a diesel motor to generate electricity which in turn runs an electric motor. As a result, diesel engines get all their torque at 1 rpm, giving them tremendous acceleration off the line.

Do you know why is a boxer engine called a boxer engine?

It jiggles around like a boxer.

It has engine mounts that look like boxing gloves.

It resembles a boxing ring.

It appears to have a black eye, due to the placement of the air intake.

Boxer engines are a term often synonymous with the class of engine boxers belong to: flat engines. Boxer engines are called this because, due to the vibrations induced by the engine as it churns away, it jiggles around in the engine bay like a boxer hopping on their toes, spoiling for a fight.

Can you correctly recognize which of these is the definition of horsepower?

A measurement of force over time

A measurement of expansive force

A measurement of raw muscle

The power of a horse to move itself at speed

Horsepower is a measurement of foot pounds of force over time. An easy rule of thumb for remembering what horsepower is, is that horsepower is what lets a car remain in a state where it increases speed, but it doesn't determine the speed of acceleration.

How many moving parts are there in a Wankel engine?

1

2

3

4+

A Wankel engine is a type of rotary engine that makes use of an object of constant width as a part of the design. In short, a rotary engine has one moving part: the rotor, a almost triangular object inside of a rounded combustion chamber containing, effectively, three combustion chambers, as each side of the rotor acts like a mini-cylinder.

How would you describe a turbocharger?

A device that rams fuel directly into the manifold

A device that injects nitrous oxide into the engine

A device that rams extra air into the engine

A device that augments the engine's torque with an electric motor

A turbocharger is a fan that rams fresh air into the engine, increasing power and, if the engine is tuned for it, fuel efficiency. This type of function is referred to as "forced induction". Turbochargers are powered by the vehicle's exhaust, which means that wasted energy is converted into power.

Can you name the edge that gas engines usually have over diesel engines?

More horsepower

More torque

Better energy regeneration

Better software management

Gas engines' advantage over diesel is that while they don't typically have the same torque figures (all other things being equal) and they don't have the instant torque available to diesel engines, they do have more horsepower, something best appreciated on the highway, but not on the highway on ramp.

Do you know what happens if you put some diesel into a modern gas-powered car's tank and then run that car?

Nothing if you don't do it often

The gas engine will die.

The car will explode.

It will improve performance.

The truth is that, with today's engines, a little diesel in the tank won't kill a gas engine. This is due to a number of factors, not the least of which is the complicated software and computer management of engines that keeps them from running too hot, etc.

What is a major safety advantage of diesel fuel over gasoline?

It does not explode.

It evaporates much more slowly.

It evaporates much faster.

Its fumes aren't harmful.

Gas works by exploding inside the gasoline engine. This is literally how gas engines work: They are cages for contained explosions that move mechanical parts that propel the car forward. Diesel doesn't explode, but it does burn. The difference between diesel and gas engines is that one explodes its fuel and the other just burns it.

Can you correctly identify what an engine's displacement is?

Volume of air/fuel cycle

Total size of engine

Volume of cylinders

Total volume of engine block

An engine's displacement is an interesting stat, referring to the total volume in the engine for air and fuel. Generally, a larger displacement will produce more power, all other things being equal. It used to go that in order to have a more powerful engine, you needed a larger displacement, as with the Dodge Viper, but today, all sorts of clever technologies have, ironically, displaced displacement as the key to power.

Do you know what a supercharger is?

Another name for a turbocharger

Like a turbocharger, but powered electronically

A forced induction system powered by the engine

A turbocharger used in race cars only

Superchargers are the forebears of turbochargers, the former being in use long before the turbo appeared on the scene. While supercharger and turbochargers accomplish much the same task, superchargers are run off the engine, usually by a belt.

Can you recognize which of these is the definition of torque?

The force of speed

The force of expansion

The tendency of an object to rotate

The tendency of an object to remain fixed

Torque is the force of rotation, often measured in foot pounds. Mechanical torque (there are other kinds) is the torque referred to with cars, and unlike some other kinds of torque, it is only produced in peak levels within a narrow band of RPMs in a gas engine, which is why knowing how to drive a manual is considered such an art.

Is the horsepower produced by an internal combustion engine the horsepower available to the rear-wheel drive car the engine sits inside of?

No, it loses 20%

No it loses 15%

No it loses 5%

Yes

Rear-wheel drive cars' drive trains sap some power. That's right: your RWD BMW M3 loses about 20% of its power to the drive train, which is about par for the course. Like electrical voltage drop, it takes energy to push energy through a conduit, the drive train in this case. This is one reason why some car makers like to put the engine closer to the wheels that provide power, either in a front-wheel drive car, or a rear-wheel drive car.

How would you describe a hot-V?

Another name for a V8

A small, turbocharged V6

A V16

A V with the turbochargers in the V

A hot V is a configuration of a V engine (usually a V8) and turbocharger or turbochargers wherein the turbos sit in the middle of the cylinders, wedged in the middle of the V. This configuration not only saves room, allowing other mechanical components to be arranged with greater freedom, but it also ensures that the turbo operates with greater force.

Do you know what a spark plug is?

The source of the explosions in an engine

An electric conductor containing a resistor

A tiny, essential component of a gas engine

All of the above

A spark plug is the component that conducts a tiny spark of electricity into the combustion chamber inside an internal combustion engine. It consists of an electrode attached to a resistor, so that pulses of electricity can be conducted through in a burst, resulting in a spark, and not constant current.

Of all possible advantages, what is the main advantage of a straight-6?

Easy to maintain

Greater power to weight ratio

Coolness factor

All of the above

Straight-6 engines have been around a very long time, having been a favored engine by such famous car makers as Jaguar for decades. In addition to ease of maintenance, the straight-6 design is also very smooth, and a satisfying engine from the driver's point of view.

Do you know what a W-16 is?

2 V6s

16 cylinders arranged in a W

2 V8s

A type of diesel engine

A W16 engine is an engine with 16 cylinders, arranged in a W shape, similar but not the same as two V8 engines sat side by side. W16 engines tend to have huge displacement, and produce an insane amount of power without the traditional encumbrances of turbochargers, superchargers, or other forms of engine-tuning witchcraft.

What is the difference between premium and regular gasoline?

Premium fuel has chemicals added to clean the engine.

Premium fuel is more explosive.

Premium fuel is more efficient.

Premium fuel is more eco-friendly.

Premium fuel is higher octane gasoline. The octane level of gasoline is the amount of octane molecules in it. Jet fuel for example, has such a high octane level, most cars couldn't handle it. The octane molecules are the explosive element in gasoline, and a high octane fuel means that the gasoline's ability to explode is more even and predictable.

What really is the difference between BP and Exxon gas?

Effectiveness of keeping your engine clean

Marketing

Power delivery

All of the above

The differences are marketing, and the specifics of the additives each brand puts in their gas (something done between the oil pipeline and the gas station's pump), most of which don't so much, or anything. In short, all gas stations sell the same product, even if the companies claim otherwise.

Can you identify who makes the engines found in Paganis?

Ford

Fiat

Audi

AMG

Pagani makes dramatic, high performance supercars that represent much of what Italian car makers do with the best of what Germany can do with engines. AMG is the performance brand of Mercedes-Benz, and have been making crazy versions of standard MB engines for about 40 years.

Do you know what incredible car put engine tuners AMG on the map?

C63 AMG

SLS

Hammer

SLR

The 1986 AMG Hammer was a humble E-class sedan when the then-independent tuning house AMG got their hands on it. They used their dark powers to turn the rather unassuming executive sedan into a demonic monster by swapping the car's engine for MB's 5.6-liter V8, and tuning the engine.

Can you tell the difference between BMWs tuned by BMW's M division, and Alpina?

Alpinas are more expensive.

Alpinas usually have less horsepower.

Alpinas usually have more torque.

All of the above

Just as Mercedes-Benz made AMG an official part of the company and turned it into a brand, BMW did this with what is now called BMW's Motorsport division. Alpina is an independent tuning company that does much the same work as the Ms, but their approach produces very different cars, which tend to favor torque over horsepower.

What was the boring, brilliant tuning innovation in the engine of the Lincoln Town Car?

Detuned engine

Tuned engine

Frame on body construction

None of the above, it was a terrible car

The engine in the Lincoln Town Car is found in other cars, where it can be tuned to produce a lot of horsepower. What the engineers at Ford realized was that if it was tuned for less power, then there would be less of a strain on its parts, and it would last longer with less maintenance.

Who made the engine block for the Koenigsegg CC8S?

Koenigsegg

AMG

Audi

Ford

That's right: Ford made the engine used in the initial entries in the CC series of Koenigsegg supercars. Koenigsegg did monkey with the design and make it the impressive machine it was, but to build it, they turned to the Ford modular platform, an engine format used by many manufacturers to make "their own" engines using a Ford V8 as a starting point.

Who makes the engine for the Spyker C8?

Ford

Audi

AMG

GM

When Maarten de Bruijn and Victor Muller founded Spyker Cars in 1999, they needed a source for their engines. Most of their company's resources were dedicated to the design and engineering of the rest of these incredible cars, so like Koenigsegg and Pagani, they turned to a larger manufacturer to make engines for them.

Of the following cars, which do you think did not have a Wankel engine?

Audi A1 E-Tron Concept Car

Mercedes-Benz SLR-R

Chevrolet Aerovette Concept Car

Mazda RX-8

There aren't many cars with Wankel engines out there, and for good reason. The Audi A1 E-Tron concept used a Wankel engine as part of a hybrid system, but then someone realized how silly it was to use an engine that thirsts for fuel like a vampire thirsts for blood as a part of a system intended to save fuel, and it was scrapped.

What does "Kompressor" mean in Mercedes-Benz nomenclature?

Turbocharged

Supercharged

Electric

Variable geometry

"Kompressor" was a word you probably spotted on a few Mercedes-Benz cars in the early 2000s, when the brand would festoon the letters in Kompressor down the side of every car with the feature. The term does go back to at least the 1986 AMG Hammer, but most of the time it gets a letter of Mercedes-Benz alphabet soup instead of the whole word.

Can you recall which major automaker just reinvented the internal combustion engine?

GM

Volkswagen Group

Mazda

Toyota

Starting with certain 2019 models, Mazda is introducing a very strange new engine as part of its SkyactivX system. This technology uses compression-ignition as part of the way the gasoline engine works. This type of technology actually comes from diesel engines, and many car makers have experimented with it over the years, but only Mazda cracked it.

Can you say which of the following is not a real kind of engine?

Knight Sleeve Valve

Volkswagen W16

Lanchester Biturbo

Panhard Flat-Twin

The Lanchester Biturbo is a fiction, as cool as that would be. Lanchester did produce an engine called the Twin-Crank Twin, using two cranks instead of the usual one on a 4 liter flat twin (2 cylinder) engine, which was capable of about 10 horsepower, which was a lot back when it was built in the early 1900s.

Why are 1971 Hemi-powered Dodge Chargers as rare as they are?

Because the Hemi was a stupidly expensive option

Because the Hemi was only a bit more powerful than the 440-Six-Pack

The oil crisis killed off the muscle car.

All of the above

The Hemi was rated at 425 horsepower, while the 440 Six Pack could crank out a pretty respectable 360 horsepower. The problem was that while the 440 Six Pack option was only a bit expensive, the Hemi option was more than a grand. In the early 1970s, you could buy a couple used cars for that.

Do you know why the Hemi is called the Hemi?

The cylinders are arranged in a semi-circle.

The combustion chambers are hemispherical in shape.

The pistons are hemispherical in shape.

It sounded cool at the time.

The Hemis of yore were called that because their combustion chambers were hemispherical in shape, part of an overall design that made them powerful, even legendary among muscle car enthusiasts. More recent "Hemis" may come from Chrysler, but they don't have the real heritage of the older ones.

Can you correctly identify which engine squats in the heart of the most legendary car from Auto Carriers Ltd.?

A BMW M3 engine

A Ford V8

A GM V6

A Toyota Hybrid

When Carroll Shelby built his legendary AC Cobra race car, he started with a time-honored recipe of a lightweight car made lighter, and then decided to be very American about the underpowered English sports car he was using, by adding a gigantic Ford V8.

Do you know which foreign, LS3-powered car was rebadged as the Chevrolet SS?

Holden Astra

Holden Colorado

Holden Barina

Holden Commodore

The LS3 will be remembered as one of the last great internal combustion engines. It powered the Holden Commodore VF from 2015 to 2017. GM, which owns Holden, decided to have a run of these rear-wheel drive, Corvette-powered cars made with Chevy badges for the American market.

Sponsored Links

About HowStuffWorks Play

How much do you know about dinosaurs? What is an octane rating? And how do you use a proper noun? Lucky for you, HowStuffWorks Play is here to help. Our award-winning website offers reliable, easy-to-understand explanations about how the world works. From fun quizzes that bring joy to your day, to compelling photography and fascinating lists, HowStuffWorks Play offers something for everyone. Sometimes we explain how stuff works, other times, we ask you, but we’re always exploring in the name of fun! Because learning is fun, so stick with us!

Get smarter every day! Subscribe & get 1 quiz every week.

Playing quizzes is free! We send trivia questions and personality tests every week to your inbox. By
clicking "Sign Up" you are agreeing to our
privacy policy and confirming that you are 13
years old or over.